The Innocents were an alleged gang of outlaw road agents in

Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries ...

who operated during the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...

of the 1860s, preying on shipments and travelers carrying gold from

Virginia City, Montana Virginia City is a town in and the county seat of Madison County, Montana, United States. In 1961 the town and the surrounding area were designated a National Historic Landmark District, the Virginia City Historic District. The population was 2 ...

. According to the early chronicler Thomas Dimsdale, the gang attempted to steal gold while it was being transported; they killed many travelers who resisted. Sheriff

Henry Plummer Henry Plummer (1832–1864) was a prospector, lawman, and outlaw in the American West in the 1850s and 1860s, who was known to have killed several men. He was elected sheriff of Bannack, Montana, in 1863 and served until 1864, during which ...

Bannack, Montana Bannack is a ghost town in Beaverhead County, Montana, United States, located on Grasshopper Creek, approximately upstream from where Grasshopper Creek joins with the Beaverhead River south of Dillon. Founded in 1862, the town is a National His ...

was accused of leading the group, and was executed by a group of

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...

s from Virginia City in January 1864, along with several other alleged gang members.

Criminal activities

Early historians, originating with Dimsdale, stated that the gang consisted of over one hundred members at its height. Their headquarters was supposedly based at the Rattlesnake Ranch, twelve miles outside of

. The gang allegedly killed over one hundred people (only eight deaths have been confirmed by documented sources) and stole a significant amount of gold while it was being transported the seventy-mile distance between

Virginia City Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boom ...

and Bannack. Researchers believed the gang operated in small units in order to prey upon travelers from different towns. The gang was said to place watchmen in mine offices and gambling offices to determine when gold would be shipped. The members of the gang were believed to use secret code words for identification, as well as a secret knot in their ties. Many residents soon became frustrated by the rate of robberies and murders. In late 1863 they formed a committee of vigilantes (the

Montana Vigilantes The history of vigilante justice and the Montana Vigilantes began in 1863 in what was at the time a remote part of eastern Idaho Territory. Vigilante activities continued, although somewhat sporadically, through the Montana Territorial period un ...

) to combat the rash of murders and robberies.

Vigilante justice

Plummer was initially suspected of criminal activity after two residents who had been robbed claimed that they had recognized him during the robberies. Another local robbing victim said that, after he confronted Sheriff Plummer about the danger of the roads, Plummer offered to return some of his money to him. The vigilante committee arrested three men in Nevada City in December 1863, charging them with murder. One man was executed, and the group banished the other two. After learning of this event, boot-maker George Lane rode to Bannack to tell Plummer about the incident. For the next month, the vigilante committee arrested many local men suspected of being part of Plummer's gang. They passed sentences ranging from execution to flogging to banishment. Shortly before one man was hanged, he told the assembled crowd that Plummer was the ringleader behind the recent crime spree. This confirmed the suspicions held by the vigilantes, and they soon arrested Plummer. After being arrested, he tried to bribe his captors but was unsuccessful. Between December 1863 and February 1864 the vigilante committee executed Plummer and twenty-two alleged members of his gang, including George Lane. At one point the vigilantes assembled a force of over 500 men and sealed off Virginia City in order to catch gang members. The gallows on which Plummer was hanged had been built at his request as sheriff in relation to an earlier case. Over 5,000 people assembled to watch the hangings of the gang members.

Modern scholarship

Scholars have noted a lack of documentation and other historical evidence pertaining to the Innocents. The earliest accounts of the gang have been shown to be unreliable. The descriptions of activities and secret codes conform to a common pattern of frontier mythography. (The number of members was "over a hundred," the number of victims also "over a hundred," their secret password was "I am innocent"). Frederick Allen and other modern scholars have questioned whether the gang was as influential as told. Mather and Boswell are among scholars who deny that any gang conducted the relatively few documented robberies in the area, saying they were more likely the work of a small number of independent (or at most loosely organized) outlaws.

Criminal activities

Vigilante justice

Modern scholarship

References

Further reading